Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 7 eBook

Now, Sir, if I may have a fair, a faithful specimen
from his letters or accounts to you, written upon
some of the most interesting occasions, I shall be
able to judge whether there will or will not be a necessity
for me, for my honour’s sake, to enter upon
the solicited task.

You may be assured, from my enclosed answer to the
letter which Miss Montague has honoured me with, (and
which you’ll be pleased to return me as soon
as read,) that it is impossible for me ever to think
of your friend in the way I am importuned to think
of him: he cannot therefore receive any detriment
from the requested specimen: and I give you my
honour, that no use shall be made of it to his prejudice,
in law, or otherwise. And that it may not, after
I am no more, I assure you, that it is a main part
of my view that the passages you shall oblige me with
shall be always in your own power, and not in that
of any other person.

If, Sir, you think fit to comply with my request,
the passages I would wish to be transcribed (making
neither better nor worse of the matter) are those
which he has written to you, on or about the 7th and
8th of June, when I was alarmed by the wicked pretence
of a fire; and what he has written from Sunday, June
11, to the 19th. And in doing this you will
much oblige

Your humble servant,ClarissaHarlowe.

***

Now, Lovelace, since there are no hopes for thee of
her returning favour—­since some praise
may lie for thy ingenuousness, having neither offered
[as more diminutive-minded libertines would have done]
to palliate thy crimes, by aspersing the lady, or
her sex—­since she may be made easier by
it—­since thou must fare better from thine
own pen than from her’s—­and, finally,
since thy actions have manifested that thy letters
are not the most guilty part of what she knows of thee—­I
see not why I may not oblige her, upon her honour,
and under the restrictions, and for the reasons she
has given; and this without breach of the confidence
due to friendly communication; especially, as I might
have added, since thou gloriest in thy pen and in
thy wickedness, and canst not be ashamed.

But, be this as it may, she will be obliged before
thy remonstrances or clamours against it can come;
so, pr’ythee now, make the best of it, and rave
not; except for the sake of a pretence against me,
and to exercise thy talent of execration:—­and,
if thou likest to do so for these reasons, rave and
welcome.

I long to know what the second request is: but
this I know, that if it be any thing less than cutting
thy throat, or endangering my own neck, I will certainly
comply; and be proud of having it in my power to oblige
her.